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It (character)
It, also known as Pennywise the Dancing Clown and Bob Gray, is the title character and main antagonist of Stephen King's 1986 horror novel It. It is a shifting entity, who every three decades preys on the local children from Derry, Maine, and, in order to kill them, takes the form of It's victims' greatest and most terrifying phobias. 'It' can shapeshift, and also possesses a power to control people's actions to achieve evil aims; 'It' can take over a person's mind. Fictional biography A monster of unknown origin, It originated before the creation of the Universe itself in a dimension named the "Deadlights", and It's true form is never revealed. Because of this, the Losers Club does not know what 'It' actually is, giving the creature 'It's' name. The form It takes the most is that of a sadistic clown, named Pennywise, in order to use it as a decoy when going after a child. In It's home under the sewers, It takes the form of a monstrous pregnant female black spider, which is the closest to It's true physical shape, and lets the Losers look at It without making them lose their minds. Having control over what happens in Derry, many of the child murders It commits are never solved, as the adults of Derry either act as though nothing is happening or have forgotten about It. The monster arrived on Earth in the form of an asteroid during prehistory, landing on what later would become the town of Derry, and hibernated there until humans settled and colonized the place. It awoke, fed on the settlers, and started a cycle of hibernation, in which It would sleep for almost three decades and be awake for over two years. Every time Its hibernation stage finished, events of extreme violence happened in Derry. In the novel, Mike Hanlon, one of those who had battled against It during the 1957-58 period, became Derry's librarian and historian, and investigated about the city's dark and violent events. By this, he learned about Its cycle: * 1715-1716: It awoke. * 1740-1743: It awoke, and returned to hibernation with the disappearance of over 300 settlers from Derry Township. * 1769-1770: It awoke. * 1851: It awoke when a man named John Markson poisoned his entire family; he committed suicide by eating a white nightshade mushroom. * 1876-1879: It awoke, and went back into hibernation after murdering a group of lumberjacks who were later found near the Kenduskeag Stream. * 1904-1906: It awoke and possessed a lumberjack named Claude Heroux who murdered several anti-union organizers in broad daylight at the Silver Dollar Bar, and returned to hibernation after the Kitchener Ironworks exploded, causing the deaths of 102 people, 88 of them children who were on a Easter egg hunt. * 1929-1930: It awoke when a large mob of Derry citizens gunned down a group of gangsters known as the Bradley Gang, and returned to hibernation after the Maine Legion of White Decency set fire to "The Black Spot," an African-American army nightclub. * 1957-1958: It awoke with the death of Dorsey Corcoran by his stepfather, Richard Macklin. Its first known victim was George Denbrough during one of the floods that would hit Derry every few years. It was forced into an early hibernation after being confronted and wounded by the Loser's Club (Bill Denbrough, Ben Hanscom, Beverly Marsh, Richie Tozier, Eddie Kapsbrack, Mike Hanlon and Stan Uris). * 1984-1985: It awoke when three homophobic men beat up Adrian Mellon and Don Hagarty, a gay couple. Throwing Mellon off of a bridge to his death, soon after It feeds on him. After a series of murders, the Losers, now adults, return to Derry and after the second ritual of Chüd they finally kill It. After doing so, the whole city of Derry is severely damaged by a huge storm, signifying Its definite death. In other King works In King's later novel The Tommyknockers, Tommy Jacklin sees a clown with shiny silver dollars for eyes and a clenched white glove filled with balloons in a storm drain. It is left ambiguous whether the clown is Pennywise, or just a hallucination. In King's 2001 novel Dreamcatcher, Mr. Gray shares his name with Its alias, Robert Gray. When he arrives in Derry, he reads a phrase that homages the victims of the 1985 storm, the names of the seven Losers Club members, and the phrase "Pennywise lives". In King's novel 11/22/63, the protagonist, Jake, goes back to Derry in 1958 and encounters Beverly Marsh and Richie Tozier, two of the seven children who confront It. In King's novel'' The Dark Tower'', Dandelo has abilities and a bug like form similar to It's. King has come out and said that they are not the same, but that they could most likely be of the same species of creature. In television In the 1990 television miniseries, It is portrayed by actor Jonathan L. Dee. Here, Its true form is revealed to be the Deadlights, but Its origin is never mentioned. The miniseries also omits the Turtle, and the fact that when It shapeshifts into the Spider Its a pregnant female. In film In May 2015, it was announced that Will Poulter was cast as Pennywise in Cary Fukunaga's film adaptation of the novel. In an interview with Moviefone - John Dee, who previously portrayed the character, wished Poulter "good luck" stating that the role of Pennywise is a "wonderful part". Category:Stephen King characters Category:Characters in American novels of the 20th century Category:Fictional characters introduced in 1986 Category:Fictional clowns Category:Fictional demons and devils Category:Fictional extraterrestrial characters Category:Fictional serial killers Category:Fictional shapeshifters Category:Fictional spiders Category:Fictional telepaths Category:Fictional mass murderers Category:Horror film characters Category:Drama television characters Category:Literary villains